


A Heart Full of Music (and Love)

by SmokeyDogs_05



Category: Naruto
Genre: College AU, Fluff and Humor, For naruto secret santa!, Gen, M/M, Mainly just Gaara and Naruto, Modern AU, Multi, Sai/Ino make a cameo, Sasuke and Iruka are mentioned, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28254963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmokeyDogs_05/pseuds/SmokeyDogs_05
Summary: Naruto is only concerned with passing pre-calculus and getting his friends to help him pass pre-calculus. Gaara is new to university and is only concerned with wrapping up his degree. Unfortunately, in a world were soulmates are common and different tropes are everywhere, when Naruto hears a weird drumbeat in the back of his head, he has some idea of what it is. Only, he is unaware that on the other side of campus, Gaara hears the same weird beat.
Relationships: Gaara/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36
Collections: Naruto/Boruto Secret Santa 2020





	A Heart Full of Music (and Love)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlleyMichaelis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyMichaelis/gifts).



> I present your gift! I had help editing the piece by the lovely @soliavenne found on tumblr. Hopefully I hit all the requirements and I liked the challenge since I haven't written for this couple before. Hope you enjoy!

Naruto stepped out into the cool, autumn air and blinked hard as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight outside. It was, or it would have been, a lovely day, but his mind was heavy, and he felt terrible after his most recent math quiz. His head already hurt enough from his classes today, and the transition from the dark dreary classroom to a bright full sunlight didn’t help either. He paused for a moment, letting the large flow of movement of the students around him as he adjusted the brightness on his phone. His stomach growled as he opened his messenger app and he scrolled to his group chat. He needed food and a translator for his math notes… and maybe for math in general, since it really just seemed like another language altogether for him.

_Naruto 4:35pm  
Man I’m starving! Anyone up for dinner?!_

_Sasuke 4:36pm  
You mean watching you pig out while re-explaining your PreCalc notes to you? No thanks!  
_

_Sakura 4:37pm  
As long as they’re legible, I could go for a bite._

Naruto snorted at Sasuke’s comment, slightly annoyed, but couldn’t say much given that the man wasn’t wrong. He smiled a little despite the comment, because he knew Sasuke was only saying such due to his own busy schedule. Being the son of the Chief of Police and trying to follow his families lead of being a cop was a lot of work. Naruto paused to send another message as he shifted the bag on his shoulder, the worn-out tan backpack needed to be replaced once and for all when he got paid next.

 _Naruto 4:38pm  
_ _Thanks Sakura! Hey wait, could this?_

_Sakura 4:38pm  
Don’t start_

_Naruto 4:39pm  
_ _BE A DATE??!!!_

 _Sakura 4:39pm  
_ _Keep talking and I’ll leave you to decipher your own notes_

Naruto smiled to himself as he put the phone away long enough to navigate the campus as he headed toward the parking lot. Today hadn’t been terrible, but it hadn’t been great either. His Pre-Calculus grade had barely made the cut, and although his other grades weren’t terrible, they were nothing compared to his friend’s grades. At least he wasn’t failing anything… yet. Naruto sighed as he unlocked his small, beat up, rusty, dull orange car. While it wasn’t the best, it still got him around, and that was all he cared about. It had been a high school graduation gift from his caretaker Iruka, to help him with college and moving out on his own. Naruto loved the car, despite how crude it looked like, and vowed to one day restore it fully once he becomes the Hokage. He pulled out his phone once more as he started his car and popped in one of his favorite CDs.

 _Naruto 4:42pm  
_ _Alright alright it’s not a date. Pick you up by the front gate?_

 _Sakura: 4:42pm  
_ _Already waiting for ya._

 _Sasuke 4:43pm  
_ _Yeah you guys have fun with that._

 _Naruto 4:43pm  
_ _Don’t worry Sasuke maybe next time we can go out on a date instead._

 _Sasuke 4:43pm  
_ _Don’t count on it dobe._

Naruto snickered to himself as he pulled out of his parking space and followed the route toward the front of Shinobi United University. This was his second year, and while he hated the “required courses”, (Really, when was he, _ever_ , going to use Pre-Calculus during his time as Hokage?) he did enjoy the electives that did relate to his career path. While no one expected him to excel at Political Science classes, he grew fond of having the chance to debate with others and argue his point. Naruto smiled as he slowed the car down and pulled up next to the gate. Sakura waved out an arm, the other carrying a large textbook pressed against her chest while her messenger bag swayed steadily by her side.

“Hey, Sakura! Ready to go?” He called out as he rolled down the window. He shoved the gearshift into park, allowing the doors to unlock, as Sakura slid off her messenger bag and shoved it through the open window.

“Yeah, I’m ready. Door still stuck?” She asked as Naruto shrugged.

“I was told it was good as new.” He replied, earning an unconvinced look from Sakura as she tugged on the supposedly unlocked door, and failed to open it.

“Well… key word was ‘told’.”

“Yeah, and who told you?” Sakura asked leaning once more through the open window to shove her bag onto the floor of the car.

“Iruka-.”

“Iruka doesn’t work on cars! Naruto-”

“I know, I know! Just climb in will ya’?! I’m starving!” Sakura rolled her emerald eyes at him and sighed.

“You’re lucky I’m in jeans today, or else you’d be on your own!” She hissed before hiking a leg up and literally climbed through the window of Naruto’s beat-up car. Once she was situated properly, she smoothed out her bright red shirt and pulled the rest of her long gray cardigan tied around her waist into the car.

“Okay, I’m in.” She said as she clipped her seat belt on. “Oh God!” She sneered a second later as Naruto froze and looked at her.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, hand on the gearshift as Sakura wrinkled her nose in disgust before pointing at Ino and Sai who were clinging to each other as they walked toward Sai’s car in the parking lot.

“Do they really have to do that?” She asked, as the couple made eye contact with each other before Ino shoved Sai into the side of his car and kissed him as though her life depended on it.

Naruto snorted, “I mean, how else are people supposed to know their soulmates?” He asked as Sakura rolled her eyes.

“I think I lost my appetite. I mean I’m happy for her but- oh jeez can we go? I think they’re about to start procreating.” Naruto winced as Sai lifted Ino’s leg to wrap around his waist.

“Yeah let’s go get-!”

**LUB**

Naruto froze, hand on the gear shift, listening. His eyes were wide open and his whole body felt tensed, trying to see if the noise would repeat itself.

**LUB LUB**

_‘What was that?’_ he thought, trying to make out what exactly he was hearing. It sounded like a drumbeat, but it couldn’t be. The marching band didn’t practice on this side of campus, and looking around, no one in the vicinity was playing musical instruments. The bass in his car wasn’t that great and the music wasn’t even loud enough to deafen literally everything just for a few moments. His head thumped as if in echo to the loud noise, and he had half a mind to just switch off his car and run out to find the source.

“ _Naruto_?” Sakura sounded distant as he blinked opening his mouth before freezing again.

* * *

Gaara slammed the car door closed as he rounded the front of it and stared up at the university before him. Temari came a moment later with a sigh as she shuffled a few items around in her purse.

“Okay, I got all of our transcripts just in case they weren’t sent properly. We all ready?” She asked as Kankuro, lazily got out of the car and proceeded to follow his siblings to the front of it.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Ya’ sure this place has the best Political Science programs?” Kankuro asked as they began to navigate their way toward the university.

“Shinobi United University has some of the best programs for different studies around. At least better than any of the community colleges in Suna.” Temari said with a shrug as they started to head inside the main building.

“Once we are able to, let’s start with the education programs back home. They need to be rebuilt from the ground up, and then hopefully one day… we could have a university like this in Suna.” Gaara said, pausing and looking up at the school and smiled a little to himself. It was a tall, beautiful structure and if he was honest, it was a goal of his to make Suna a great city once more. If they could get something of this scale there, it would help with drawing people to live there or at least near enough to the city.

Gaara didn’t want a lot in life, he didn’t expect anything from something that had wronged him so much, but he did want to help his city. He wanted future generations to not suffer like he and his family had. Apart from rebuilding the education systems, his goal encompasses a lot of other parts of Suna as well. A total rehaul was in order, but first he and his siblings had to prove they knew what they were doing.

**DUB**

Gaara froze, eyes wide and unseeing suddenly as Temari and Kankuro both blinked alarmed at his sudden stiff posture.

**DUB DUB**

The redheaded boy cocked his head to the side, listening to the drumbeat loud in his mind but… seemingly distant. Like… the origin of it was far away from where he was, but nevertheless loud enough in his mind to silence all his thoughts. He wasn’t even sure anymore what he was thinking previously to hearing the initial beat. His body was tense and he was struggling to decide whether to run away from the noise… or run toward the source.

**DUB**

**DUB DUB**

* * *

**LUB**

“Do you hear that?” Naruto asked as Sakura blinked surprised. She was in the middle of asking what was wrong when he interrupted her. He looked confused as he leaned forward trying to see past her once more.

“Uhm… you mean your music? Because I don’t hear anything else.” She said softly as Naruto’s furrowed brow seemed to somehow deepen before he shrugged.

* * *

“Do you hear that?” Gaara asked, still unsure himself of what he really heard. His siblings looked at with concern, and he realized suddenly that Temari had gripped onto his shoulders. She was scanning him as Kankuro stood almost at attention as though trying to decide the best course of action.

“No, what’s the matter Gaara?” She asked softly pulling one hand back as he looked down seemingly dazed.

“I’m not sure, I just…” he trailed off struggling to find the right words.

* * *

“I thought I heard something is all.” Naruto mumbled as he shook his head as if to clear the haunting beat from it. He shifted the car into gear as Sakura slumped back in her seat.

“Well, if you keep hearing things, let me know. I can see if I can get you in.” Naruto grinned at her offer knowing she could and would get him into seeing her boss, Tsunade.

“Nah, it’ll be fine.” Sakura’s eyes narrowed as she watched her best friend drive away from campus.

“Well… could you at least describe it? Just so I know it’ll be ‘fine’.” Her brow raised knowing that Naruto would simply shrug it off until it became worse or more of an issue to him.

“Well… it sounded… it sounded like….”

* * *

“You sure it was a drumbeat?” Temari asked as Gaara rolled his eyes and Kankuro snorted. They strolled lazily across the lawn of the campus making their way toward their car. They had signed up for classes successfully for the following semester and luckily only have about a year left thanks to the classes they had taken in Suna. Now the only thing that was left to do apparently was to recheck Gaara’s mental status, _again_ , as they approached their car.

“Jeez, he’s answered like five times Tem, give it up already.”

“I’m just concerned! It’s not often Gaara just hears things that aren’t there!”

“It’s fine. It was just for a moment.” Gaara said as he climbed into the car. “I would appreciate it if we.…”

* * *

“Oi- Just drop it, Sakura! It’s nothing, I swear.” Naruto laughed as Sakura smacked him with her large medical book. There wasn’t a lot of force behind the smack, and his large black and orange hoody was thick enough that he was left unharmed. She had spent the entire 10 minutes of their journey looking up potential ailments Naruto might have before he parked the car and snapped the book shut on her mid-sentence.

“I’m just concerned-”

“And I’m just starving!” He grinned at her before getting out of the car on his side and running around to help pull her through the window. Sakura sighed one she was on solid ground again and pointed a finger at him.

“I promise.” He said before she could get another word in as she sighed, finally accepting defeat, and let him lead her into Ichiraku.

Later that night, Naruto sat cross-legged on the floor of his room and tried to focus on the haunting drumbeat he had just heard that day. Maybe if he tried, he could hear it again, or at least figure out why it haunted him so much. A part of him ached to hear it again, another part of him (a big part of him) regretted not getting out the car and running toward the source. After ten minutes of concentration, he gave up and began scrolling to see if there was anything on the internet about it.

Naruto paused at the search box on his phone for a moment, unsure of how to word his question to prevent popups of medical advice on the matter. He finally sighed and typed in a well-known search hoping it might lead him on the right track.

‘Signs you’ve found your soulmate’

It wasn’t an uncommon phenomenon in their world, people found themselves with a soulmate almost every day, yet being able to find them was the tricky part. There wasn’t an exact science to it, since everyone had different tells or ways of being paired together. Some couples had matching marks on their skin. Some just knew the exact time they would meet their other half. Others had streaks of color on their skin and had to figure out exactly what the color meant. The only catch to the whole thing was that the ‘soulmate effect’ didn’t start until both parties were 18 years old. Naruto scrolled through the different ways people had found each other and paused at one. The post had been recently made and involved two people unable to hear music but finally heard it once they met each other. He paused at it before scrolling on. He had just heard a drumbeat, and this post sounded similar to another couple who couldn’t see in colors until they had met one another.

Naruto sighed as he flopped onto his back against the floor of his apartment building and stared up at the ceiling. There was a distant ‘ **Lub** ’ in the back of his head that he knew wasn’t from having Pre-Calculus beat into his head courtesy of Sakura. He smiled to himself, glad it hadn’t totally disappeared given his efforts earlier, and he wondered, if it was his soulmate on the other end, who exactly got stuck with him. He knew it wasn’t the pinkette since she hadn’t heard the ‘ **Lub** ’s earlier today and after being around her for so long, if they were soulmates, it would have activated by now. If Naruto was honest, he always half expected Sasuke to be his soulmate. The two argued occasionally but more often than not they got along and even complimented each other in almost every aspect. Sasuke was the moon, and he was the sun. They were childhood friends and even if they hit bad times, they made it out the other end together. They just worked. Naruto felt a little tug in his heart knowing that he and Sasuke had tried everything they could think of to see if there were soulmates. They had even kissed, thinking maybe, a kiss would activate the bond. When nothing had worked, they simply agreed to be there for one another as best friends always. Naruto rolled on his stomach, staring yet unseeing at his carpet as he thought of this new potential person he might end up with instead.

They weren’t Sasuke, but if they accepted him, and wanted to stay with him through the thick and thin, then Naruto really couldn’t ask for much more.

He sighed as he pulled himself from the floor and nodded to himself.

“Right. No matter who they are, I’ll accept them if they accept me. And if they don’t, good riddance!” He smiled a little to himself as he started to get ready for bed.

- **A Few Months Later** -

Gaara was annoyed.

That was an understatement, but he was trying _really_ hard not to be pissed.

Kankuro side-eyed his brother as he drove their car down the road and _not_ in the direction of where they lived. Temari had given him the keys since Gaara and him got out around the same time and her own classes wouldn’t be done for another three hours. He was going to pick her up after she was done, all he had to do was drive Gaara home.

And Gaara would get home….

Eventually.

“Look I’m sorry I sprang this on you, but it won’t be that bad.”

“Right, because I want to go to your band practice.”

“I know you don’t-.”

“You can’t even play the drums.”

“Hey, I can to-.”

“Just because you’ve terrorized Temari and me with running around the house learning to play for the past week and a half doesn’t mean you know how.”

“But that was the whole point of the terrorizing! To learn!” Kankuro explained as he pulled into the empty music lot. Gaara frowned at the sketchy, strip mall that only had a total of three others car in the parking lot. One red, one blue, and one sad beat-up orange car. They stood out like sore thumbs against the dull grey sky. He was just glad it hadn’t quite starting snowing in bulk yet since the dusting of white from this morning had yet to melt away. The last thing he wanted was to trudge through the snow _and_ see his brother’s band practice.

“I’m going to take the bus.” He said as Kankuro threw up his hands.

“So you wish death upon me!? Your older brother!” They both knew if Temari found out that he had not only forced Gaara into an interaction he didn’t want to be in, but had also made him ride the bus, death would be the only option.

The two brothers stared at each other, Gaara glaring and Kankuro trying to look convincing. It took two minutes of Kankuro shrugging and gesturing toward the shop they parked at for Gaara to concede.

Gaara still wasn’t sure how Kankuro got swept up into this ‘band’. All he knew was that someone in his woodshop class had gotten him to join, despite his inability to play. Gaara couldn’t remember what his name was but he knew the other two people in the band were Itachi and Deidara whom he honestly didn’t care for. There had been rumors of the two being in a gang a few years ago, and Gaara doubted they were morally upright citizens nowadays. Though Gaara was sure Kankuro never mentioned he couldn’t play, he just hoped his brother learned enough to not make a total fool of himself. They climbed out of the car and entered the shop, and Gaara hung back as Kankuro talked to the person behind the counter and got checked in. He barely paid attention as Kankuro lead him back toward one of the sound-proof rooms the band apparently rented.

The only good thing about this venture was it gave him time to figure out exactly why he was hearing a heartbeat, because that was all he had figured out so far regarding the ‘ **Dub** ’s he heard throughout the day. It happened the mostly on campus, although he did hear it occasionally in the back of his mind if his room became too quiet. It was distracting and loud especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for some reasons he couldn’t quite figure out. He did however figure that the ‘ **Dub** ’ had another half he wasn’t hearing. Normally heartbeats went ‘ **LubDub** ’ and with each passing day, he was certain there was another noise meant to be heard between his own ‘ **Dub** ’s. Yet for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why he was hearing it and or who was causing him to hear it. He didn’t necessarily believe in the ‘soulmate effect’ but he couldn’t disprove it since so much evidence showed it existed. He just… didn’t think he had one if he was honest. If he took a look at his life so far, with how entrenched in tragedy and pain it was in, why would anyone want to be stuck with him? It wouldn’t be fair, thus, there was no way he could have a soulmate. Who would even understand him, and who would even _make_ the effort to do so?

Gaara finally looked up as him and Kankuro entered the room and felt his breath catch in his throat as his eyes landed on an old friend.

Naruto’s eyes widened as they landed on Gaara before he grinned and hopped off the speaker he was perched on.

“Hey, Gaara! Hey Kankuro! What are you doing here?” Naruto exclaimed as Kankuro waved a hand up.

“I’m here for the band practice and Gaara decided to tag along with me.” He explained as Gaara gave him a half-hearted glare. He didn’t fully agree on that sentiment but at least this wouldn’t be as bad as he initially thought as he took Naruto in.

It had been ages since they last saw each other, having gone to rival schools and only meeting at the yearly sports tournament. The tournament had been open to other schools and had multiple sports available for the kids to play and for them to create bonds together. It was there that Gaara, star goalie, met Naruto who had been on the bench when it happened. Gaara back then had grown up abused and isolated by his father and uncle and hadn’t known any better. All he had been taught was that he needed to do anything, _anything,_ to achieve anything in life and if he needed to break bones, he would. So when Lee tried to slide the ball past Gaara, he quickly shut him down, kicking the ball out of bounds and while the referee wasn’t looking, broke the poor boys leg. Naruto hadn’t stood for it and replaced Lee as the striker, but Gaara’s defense was the best. After a couple of attempts of trying, Naruto, frustrated beyond belief kicked the ball up and hard at Gaara’s head. It ricocheted off his head, knocking the boy on the ground, and into the goal and while the referees gathered to figure out who won, Naruto collapsed next to him.

They talked on the ground before Gaara’s siblings came over to help him off the field. He apologized to them and later once Konoha had been declared the victor of the soccer game, Naruto and Gaara proceeded to chitchat over other aspects of their lives. It was him meeting Naruto that made Gaara decide to try and make his town better, to try and fix who he was. Naruto taught him to be better and Gaara took the lesson and ran with it. He had understood all the pain Gaara had been through and even showed Gaara there was another way through the darkness. Naruto even helped Gaara apologize to Lee who brushed off everything that had happened between them as though it hadn’t been a big deal. The following years of the sports tournament always ended with the two of them talking about changing their cities before they graduated and ultimately lost touch over the years.

The blond boy had grown to be taller than Gaara now, his spikey hair had been trimmed and his face was less round and more refined with his baby fat disappearing. His blue eyes were still the same as he scanned Gaara up and down with a smile on his lips. He noted that Naruto still wore a thick orange and black hoodies with dark blue jeans, although at least this orange was more muted than the bright one he wore in their youth. It suited him more, and Gaara found himself unable to accurately describe just how handsome he found his old friend.

“How are you doing-” Naruto started before a loud strum of an out of tune electric guitar interrupted him. Gaara turned toward the other blond man with long hair who held the guitar loosely.

“Yeah, it’s fine and dandy you guys are all lovey-dovey, but if we could get started that would be swell.” He muttered as Kankuro rolled his eyes and sighed.

Gaara blinked, having realized there were other people in the room as he took in the rude blond man who wore all black and had bangs covering one of his eyes. Another redheaded man was in the corner of the room, fiddling with cords for the different instruments and speakers, and two other dark-haired men leaned against the wall chatting between themselves. The other men noticeably ignoring the noise Deidara made and not at all rushing toward their own instruments.

“Okay, well that’s Deidara, Sasori is over there messing with the cords, and Itachi is talking to that other guy.” Kankuro said waving vaguely in their direction as Naruto snorted.

“That’s Sasuke, you don’t recognize him? It hasn’t been that long.”

“I don’t remember people I don’t like.” Kankuro muttered back as Naruto let out a short laugh amused.

“Wanna step out and talk? I’m waiting on Sasuke to finish up here anyway.” Naruto asked as Gaara nodded.

As soon as the door slid shut, they both froze.

**LUB DUB LUB DUB LUB DUB**

“Wow, they’re really going at it.” Naruto grinned as Gaara nodded in agreement. Both trying to pass off their sudden stiffness as surprise and definitely not something else.

“You think the room would muffle some of it.” He responded, turning around to look at the door behind him as Naruto hummed in agreement.

“So… what are you guys doing here?”

Gaara sighed, rolling his eyes before crossing his arms. “Well, Kankuro and I just finished our classes when he dragged me here. We’ve been attending Shinobi United as of this semester.” He explained as Naruto nodded.

“Ah… what program are you in? And I thought they had colleges in Suna? Seems like a long way to travel.”

“We have community colleges, but we’re pursing Political Science majors. I’m also trying to get a minor in Business.” Naruto’s mouth dropped before he grinned, eyes flashing with excitement.

“Seriously!? Same! Only I’m not going for a minor!” He grinned as Gaara took in his excited, bright blue eyes and tried hard to fight off a blush.

**LUB DUBDUB LUB**

Naruto blinked, realizing the beat was getting intense as he looked at Gaara’s suddenly bright red face. “Man, they’re really getting into it, huh? I didn’t think Kankuro could play that loudly.” Gaara cleared his throat as he hummed in agreement and tried not to think of the pink in his cheeks.

“He just learned recently. I’ll text him to keep it down though.” He said as he got out his phone as Naruto shrugged.

“I’m just worried they’ll anger the other people here.” He said looking down the hall at the other rooms as Gaara’s phone beeped as he froze.

 _Kankuro 5:35pm  
_ _We haven’t even started yet. Are you ok?_

 _Gaara 5:35pm  
_ _Yeah it must be someone else we hear._

 _Kankuro 5:35pm  
_ _K._

“Well, Sasuke needed a ride here since he needed to get notes from Itachi but his brother didn’t grab them from his apartment. Sasuke is currently trying to convince him to give us the keys so he can just grab them himself.” Naruto explained pausing as he realized Gaara had froze after reading the text.

**DUBDUBDUB**

“Yeah, you okay? Are they going to tone it down or-”

“Naruto… it’s not a drum.” Gaara said seriously as Naruto blinked confused.

“Huh? Then what could-.”

“I’ve been hearing something beating for the past few months, I thought it was a drum at first too, but I’ve realized it’s part of a heartbeat. And… I now realize… you hear it, too… don’t you?” Gaara said as he took a step toward Naruto who froze and blinked at Gaara before swallowing a gulp.

“W-wait part? What does that mean?” He asked nervously as Gaara paused his brow furrowing.

“I hear something like… Dub. Hearts normally go-.”

“Lub dub.” Naruto mumbled eyes toward the floor as realization hits him. Gaara nodded and as their eyes connected Gaara felt his face flush as Naruto looked away, his own burning.

“You mean… you mean we-we are-?”

“I believe so.” Gaara shrugged, looking toward the floor and trying to wish away the red in his cheeks. Naruto however, grinned to himself as he glanced at the ceiling before turning towards Gaara who looked up at him hope in his baby blue eyes. Naruto grinned at him, cheeks rosy and he laughed a little dumbly before clearing his throat.

“Then… do you want to go and grab a bowl of ramen?” He asked as Gaara smiled softly at him before blinking and turning back toward the door.

“Shouldn’t we-?”

“Nah, they’ll be fine. Message Kankuro that I’ll drive you home and Sasuke can get a ride with him or Itachi.” Naruto said as he swept an arm around Gaara’s shoulders and started to lead him toward the door.

**LubDub LubDub**

Both men froze for a moment as Naruto’s arm landed on Gaara’s shoulders. The physical contact between them making the beat now whole. Loud for a moment, as though to signal it had been completed, before quieting to a soft murmur in the back of their heads. Nevertheless, still there but not as distracting, at least not as distracting to Naruto as he found the blush that now bloomed on Gaara’s face much more interesting.

Naruto led Gaara to his shabby car and proudly gestured to his transportation. Gaara, bless him, kept a straight face up until Naruto had to help him literally climb inside his little car. Naruto laughed as Gaara paled but the blond man hefted him into the open window with ease and laughed as Gaara blushed bright red the entire time.

Maybe he wasn’t Sasuke, maybe he wouldn’t be the moon to his sun, but as Naruto buckled up and grinned one last time to Gaara who turned up the music in his car muttering that he liked that band, who needed a moon distant and cold, when they had the whole sky to be a part of.

 _‘Yeah… the sky.’_ Naruto thought as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Ichiraku’s as Gaara talked about how Suna was and asked how Iruka was doing. Naruto answered easily and made Gaara’s cheeks go red as he told him they had the same favorite band. Inwardly Naruto was touched that Gaara had remembered the name of his caretaker despite the years apart.

The only downside to getting ramen was paying for it, but for once, Naruto had enough for him and his partner as Gaara heartedly ate his ramen.

“So, what’s Suna like? Still training kids to break each other’s legs?” Naruto joked as Gaara’s eyes widened before he left out half of a chuckle.

“No, we don’t teach that to kids anymore.” He smiled at Naruto, soft and sweet and it hit Naruto just how well the two of them might work.

They understood each other, had similar backgrounds, and wanted the best for their cities. Maybe it would take a lot of work, but it would be worth it as Gaara’s cheeks flushed again from too much eye contact.

“Ya’ know, I eat at this place almost every day but I think the ramen tastes better today.” Gaara blinked at him before stirring his noodles around in the bowl.

“Maybe they used a different ingredient?” He asked as Naruto shook his head and grinned at Gaara all toothy and bright.

“Nope, it always tastes better with company. And today is the best since it’s with you.” He chuckled at the dry look Gaara gives him.

“That’s cheesy.” The redhead pointed at him as Naruto rolled his eyes.

“I know, but I wanted you to know early on that cheesy is the best you’re going to get from me.” He said as Gaara snorted and ate more of his ramen, trying not to show his glee at the cheesy remark. Naruto however, seemed to read his thoughts as he grinned at him again, softer this time as Gaara tried his hardest not to blush.

They chat over their ramen some more before Naruto decided to drive Gaara home. Him singing to the CD, as Gaara hummed next to him softly, but nonetheless there with him in the moment.

Naruto helped Gaara out of the car again and stepped back to say goodbye, trying not to overstep on their first date.

“Naruto… just to clarify… you want this correct?” Gaara asked as Naruto paused and blinked at him.

“Yeah, I would like to try, and before you ask… yes, I count this as a date, and yes I want to date.” He blinked to himself before he turned and laughed nervously. “Well, I mean if that was what you were going to-.”

He didn’t get the chance to finish.

Gaara’s hands quickly and carefully find the sides of Naruto’s face as he brings the blond’s mouth down to meet his own. It was a firm kiss, just hard enough to drive the point home that he wanted this too, but still light enough for it to be a nice sweet kiss at the same time. Naruto barely had a second to respond, trying to wrap his arms around Gaara before the redhead darted away.

Their eyes met, cerulean blue clashing with baby blue as Gaara smiled at him. “I’m free on Friday.”

“Then I’ll see you at seven!” Naruto shouted after him as Gaara quickly, face flushed as red as his hair, hurried inside.

And as Naruto drove home, grinning to himself like a mad fool, he thought of Gaara’s baby blue eyes and knew that he would be the brightest sun for Gaara’s blue skies. And that suited him just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked gift, Merry Christmas!


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